Mirror editors who attended the Best of the Midwest convention, sponsored by Associated Collegiate Press, took advantage of a personal Website critique. The hour long session helped the editors to see both the strengths and the weaknesses of the Mirror’s Website.

“One thing we learned was that we needed more images to engage readers,” Editor in Chief, Danny Spatchek said.”The Website coach also gave us some good advice for how to keep our online paper looking fresh. We are hoping to bring more and more readers to the Website on a daily basis,” Spatchek said.

Editors also met with representatives for SNO (School Newspapers Online), whose WordPress themes are geared specifically for collegiate and high school newspapers.

“We were already using WordPress,” tech intern and managing editor Mike Knaak said, “and we loved the depth and flexibility of SNO’s themes. Some of the problems we were having with our old theme became non existent the minute we upgraded.”

Some of the improvements include

• Staff profiles
• A better looking top stories slider
• A breaking news marquee
• A sports score “ticker”

The Lakeland Mirror editors invite readers to comment on the new and improved Website look by leaving comments below.